All classes have not been evaluated for individual college/school credit. The list will be updated as we receive the information.

 

HCOL 185 A
Dante's Worlds
Professor Antonello Borra - Department of Romance Languages

PDF icon F15_HCOL185A_Borra_Syllabus.pdf

TR 11:40 - 12:55
U Hgts North 016

This course is devoted to the study of Dante Alighieri's Commedia, which we will read in its entirety in light of recent scholarship and taking into account different commentaries and critical approaches. We will also read passages from Dante's other works that are essential for a fuller understanding of the poet's masterpiece. In addition, we will read relevant excerpts from the Bible and from works by Virgil, Ovid, and the Troubadours. Basics of prosody and rhetoric will also be introduced and reference will be made to a variety of literary theories of interpretation that are of relevance to Biblical, Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, but the main emphasis will be laid on extensive yet close textual reading. No knowledge of Italian is required.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Literature
  • BSAD: Language & Literature Core
  • CALS: Humanities
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS: Social Science, Elective
  • RSENR: Consult your advisor

 

CANCELED - HCOL 185 B
Land, Business and Society
Professor Rocki DeWitt - BSAD

TR 4:25-5:40
Waterman 456

Whether journalist, attorney, scientist, public policy maker, entrepreneur or corporate titan, each can benefit from understanding the interplay of land, business, and society. This course is designed to leverage the knowledge of students in all majors to develop your understanding of the influence of legal and social systems on land's use in commerce. You will develop the ability to describe and forecast business behavior and the evolution of industries that create and realize value from the earth. By the end of the course, through assignments that ask you to apply traditional economics and business analytic frameworks to your reading, listening, writing and speaking, you will become a better informed and potentially more influential steward of the Earth and its inhabitants. Each student will complete a written industry land-based industry forecast and will have an opportunity to present and defend that forecast to a panel of experienced business and public policy professionals.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: No distribution - no CAS Credit
  • BSAD: Social Science Core
  • CALS: Social Science
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR:Consult with Advisor

 

HCOL 185 C
One Health
Professor Burton Wilcke - Medical Lab & Radiation Science

PDF icon F15_HCOL185C_Wilcke_Syllabus.pdf

MWF 9:40-10:30
U Hgts North 016

There is evidence that the relationship between the environment and human health was observed as early as 400 BCE by Hippocrates. Over time, however, the fields of human health, animal health and environmental health have become ever more separate and distinct areas of study and scientific inquiry operating within their own respective spheres. In 2007 the human health and animal health communities came together to promote and formalize the concept of viewing health from a "one health" approach. This course will delve into issues that clearly demonstrate how closely the health of humans, animals and the environment are connected. It will explore the potential benefits that might accrue from studying health in a more interdisciplinary way. Through presentations by experts in all three disciplines, various readings representing all three fields, and the study of both historical and contemporary "one health" case studies, students will be provided the opportunity to see how closely intertwined and interdependent these areas are. Further, students will be given the opportunity to propose innovative approaches which they feel could be effective in addressing "one health" challenges going forward.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: No distribution, CAS credit only
  • BSAD: Elective Credit only
  • CALS: Social Science
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR: Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 D
Cultural Crisis 19th Century Europe
Professor Ian Grimmer - Department of History

PDF icon F15_HCOL185D_Grimmer_Syllabus.pdf

TR 1:15-2:30
U Hgts North 016

European culture expressed a unusual paradox at the end of the nineteenth century: while the lives of most Europeans were improving materially, the same social conditions that gave rise to this well being also contributed to profound anxieties and feelings of malaise, suggesting to many that the world they had always known was coming to an end. This course will explore this interrelationship of European consciousness and society during the fin de siecle and belle epoque, covering themes such the experience of the metropolis, new conceptions of gender and sexuality, the psychoanalytic discovery of the unconscious, fears of degeneration, and the rise of new forms of mass politics including socialism, nationalism, and modern anti-Semitism.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Humanities
  • BSAD: History Core, Global & Regional Studies
  • CALS: Humanities
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR: Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 E
Political Economy for a Finite Planet
Professor Eric Zencey - Department of RSENR

PDF icon F15_HCOL185E_Zencey_Syllabus.pdf

TR 8:30-9:45
U Hgts North 016

This course will examine the ways that contemporary economic and political theory, and institutions and practices grounded on them, encode the assumption that the planet is infinite. It will ask students to explore and evaluate ways of adapting those ideas, institutions and practices to a world that has ecological limits. Many people have come to the realization that our physical infrastructure needs to be adapted to finite-planet reality; we need solar and other renewable energy systems, we need a post-petroleum agriculture, we need mass transit, and we need compact village and urban centers in a working landscape. Less obvious are the changes that need to be made to our intellectual infrastructure; this course examines those changes as well.

The primary objective of the course will be to empower students to become informed participants in our culture's transition to a sustainable relationship to its host ecosystems. This transition is inevitable: by definition an unsustainable system doesn't last. The key question is not "will we have a sustainable society?" but "what will our society look like when it becomes sustainable?" The choices we make now will determine the answer, and choosing wisely requires understanding where and how unsustainable premises are embedded in our systems.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: CAS Credit Only
  • BSAD: Social Science Core
  • CALS: Humanities, Social Sciences
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS: ENVR Science/Studies
  • RSENR:Consult with Advisor

 

HCOL 185 F
Opiates - Practice, Policy, Science
Professor Alan Rubin - College of Medicine

PDF icon F15_HCOL185F_Rubin_Syllabus.pdf

TR 10:05-11:20
U Hgts North 016

We have an opiate epidemic in Vermont. We cannot open a national or local newspaper without reading stories of deaths, crimes, arrests and celebrity rehab. Yet we see little about the background - the science, the economics, the policy and politics behind the problem. This full semester seminar series examines and explores the growing problem of opiate use in Vermont by presenting UVM and regional experts to frame the issues and share their experience, and by reviewing recent and classic evidence based articles to elucidate the science.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS:
  • BSAD: Social Science Core
  • CALS: Social Science
  • CEMS:
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR: Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 G
Crafting Democratic Institutions
Professor Ned McMahon - Department of CDAE

PDF icon F15_HCOL185G_McMahon_Syllabus.pdf

TR 2:50-4:05
U Hgts North 016

Developing lasting political structures that are representative of and responsive to human needs is a subtle and challenging endeavor. In recent years, many countries have sought to do this and shed legacies of political authoritarianism. Operationalizing the democracy concept at the level of the nation-state, however, often proves tricky. There are many issues to be considered in creating and adapting democratic governance institutions. For example, should the system be presidential or parliamentary, or a hybrid incorporating elements of both approaches? What elections systems should be used? How should the executive branch be structured?

This course provides an introduction to key concepts and is followed by focus on the executive branch, and then the legislature. It then considers election systems and administration, models of decentralization, and several country case studies. The course ends with a concluding segment designed to pull together and summarize the proceedings over the semester. The course is designed to be fast-paced, participatory and hands-on. It is not designed to provide "yes or no" answers but will instead provide an understanding of key concepts in the field, how they are utilized, what successes and failures have been in the field of governance institution design, and what can be learned from them.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Social Science
  • BSAD: Social Sciences Core
  • CALS: Humanities, Social Sciences
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS: Elective
  • RSENR:Consult with Advisor

 

HCOL 185 H
The Democratic Citizen
Professor Robert Taylor - Department of Political Science

PDF icon F15_HCOL185H_Taylor_Syllabus.pdf

MWF 1:10-2:00
U Hgts North 016

In this course we will discuss the nature of citizenship in a democracy - its character, values and obligations. Focusing primarily on the American example, we will ask questions such as: Do citizens in a democracy differ from citizens in other regimes? Does democratic citizenship produce unique obligations toward the government (or toward the world at large)? Do democratic citizens require special democratic virtues, or a special set of shared beliefs, in order to fulfill their obligations? These and related questions will be explored by studying mainly (but not exclusively) American texts by classic authors such as James Madison, Henry Thoreau, Henry Adams, and John Dewey, and contemporary philosophers and social scientists such as Richard Rorty, Martha Nussbaum, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Robert Putnam.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Humanities
  • BSAD: Social Science Core or Language & Literature Core
  • CALS: Humanities, Social Sciences
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS: Social Science
  • RSENR:Consult with Advisor

 

HCOL 185 I
Religion and Secularism(s) in Modern Age
Professor Thomas Borchert - Department of Religion

PDF icon F15_HCOL185I_Borchert_Syllabus.pdf

MWF 10:50-11:40
U Hgts North 016

In 21st century America, we tend to see a clear difference between the religious and the secular. The public sphere, the world of politics, the nation and most of our culture, is secular and things that are religious are limited to the private sphere. This is in part the result of modernization theory, a reigning paradigm of the middle 20th century, which predicted the decline of religion. This decline was seen as part of a long term process of the "triumph" of the modern and the secular over the irrationality of the religious sphere. However, since the late 1970s with both the Iranian Revolution, and the rise of fundamentalism in religions across religious traditions, scholars have come to see that the triumph of the secular over religion was a misguided way of framing the question, even though they still struggle to understand how to frame the relationship between religious and secular modes of being. In this course, we will explore the problem of thinking about religion and "the" secular in the current moment. By looking at problems of identity, belonging and governance, we will interrogate how these two categories are intertwined in contemporary communities and nation-states.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Humanities
  • BSAD: Global & Regional Studies Core
  • CALS: Humanities, Social Science
  • CEMS:
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR: Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 J
Ancient Warfare Gaming
Professor John Franklin - Department of Classics

PDF icon F15_HCOL185J_Franklin_Syllabus.pdf

R 4:35-7:35
U Hgts North 034F

This course will combine the traditional approach of studying ancient political and social history through primary texts, with sophisticated board game simulations of the period. To study ancient warfare, this course will go well beyond the battlefield itself, combining social history, anthropology, material culture, and literary. Games permit unique insights into complex systems: essential factors are identified and abstracted, and then 'put into play' in an infinitely variable, interactive environment. Social and historical processes can be modeled very effectively, allowing students to reach a more intimate understanding of historical events, progressing from 'what' and 'when', to 'why' and 'what if'.

The class will focus on a single, well defined 'event', the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), which has many attractions. The syllabus will be built around Thucydides, supplemented by Xenophon's Hellenica for the final years which Thucydides does not cover. Also included will be select plays of Aristophanes which, besides lightening the mood, will be uniquely valuable for the period's social history as being vehicles of mass entertainment in Athens throughout most of the war. Assessment will be through participation, weekly essays, and a final paper.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Humanities
  • BSAD: Global & Regional Studies Core
  • CALS: Social Sciences
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR: Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 K
Energy Dynamics in Physical Universe
Professor William Louisos - College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

PDF icon F15_HCOL185K_Louisos_Syllabus.pdf

MW 5:05 - 6:20
U Hgts North 016

Energy is a dynamic quantity that pervades space and time to their limits. Continuously changing form, morphing from one type to the next, never created nor destroyed, yet always decaying from a highly ordered state to one with many possibilities, energy is the stuff that manifests matter and the thing that manifests time. The dynamics of energy fabricate reality and elucidate existence, and yet, at the same instant, conceal the future from observation until it becomes the now.

Energy is a term that is often used in colloquial conversations yet is rarely subjected to rigorous definitions nor to critical thought processes and analyses. Even still, the scientists and engineers who make their livelihood studying, shaping, converting, and manipulating energy will necessarily admit, if they are honest, that even they do not truly know what energy actually is. That's correct; there is very little scientific agreement as to what energy actually is. Yet enigmatically, humans have become incredibly proficient at quantifying, tracking, and manipulating energy.

A glib and unsatisfying definition of energy is that it is everything in existence. Yet, one might argue that this is, in fact, a quite accurate and rigorous definition as well. In this class, we will strive to fill in the spectrum between glib and rigor as we explore the transient nature of energy and its influence on our physical reality from the smallest of the microscales to the largest scales of the universe.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Non-lab Science
  • BSAD: Elective Credit Only
  • CALS:Physical Science
  • CEMS:
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR:Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 L
Geographies of Sport
Professor Pablo Bose - Department of Geography

PDF icon F15_HCOL185L_Bose_Syllabus.pdf

MWF 2:20-3:10
U Hgts North 016

Sports are an increasingly central part of our globalized world. We see this in many ways: the building of new arenas and infrastructure, the multibillion-dollar expansion of professional sporting leagues, the increasingly lucrative nature of athletic content in broadcasting, the multimillion-dollar contracts signed by star athletes, the growing participation of children in organized sports, the emergence of virtual games and fantasy sports, and the changing nature of unstructured play, among many others. The significance of stadiums, infrastructure, and mega-events are also a key element of the race by urban sites worldwide to gain the title of 'the global city.' And the deep identification that many people have with sports teams and athletes tell us much about the continued importance of place in increasingly interconnected societies. This course looks at sports through a spatial lens, focusing specifically on the geographic concepts of place-making, urban development, and geopolitics. In particular we will explore the ways that affinities with sports teams are often a means to create and strengthen ties to specific regions and places, the centrality of mega-events and arena construction in the urbanization plans of many cities, and the ways and the ways in which sports and international competition can be a way of expressing political ideologies and positions.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Social Science
  • BSAD: Social Science Core
  • CALS: Social Science
  • CEMS:
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR:Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 M
Imitating Nature
Professor James Vigoreaux - Department of Biology

PDF icon F15_HCOL185M_Vigoreaux_Syllabus.pdf

TR 10:05-11:20
U Hgts North 034F

Since times immemorial, humans have been fascinated with the natural world, so much so that we have continuously sought ways to imitate Nature in search of solutions to our daily challenges and to expand the realm of human activities. Many ascribe the original notion that "technology imitates nature" to Aristotle, who defined mimesis as the perfection and imitation of nature. Nature's fascinating designs and elaborate strategies for problem solving are the product of 3.8 billion years of experimentation, the process of organic evolution, sensu stricto. While the concept of imitating Nature has been around for millennia, its pursuit as a scientific discipline dates back to the 1950's when the term biomimetics was coined to describe the transfer of ideas from biology to technology. The 1990's witnessed the birth of Biomimicry, a new science that studies Nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems. But the goal of Biomimicry is not simply to rob Nature of its secrets for human's technological prowess. Biomimicry also aims to instill among its practitioners a sense of awe and respect for Nature; that Nature's best ideas are only there for the taking if we protect and preserve our natural surroundings. Truly innovative bio-inspired solutions should transform human lives while also creating a more sustainable world. In this course, students will become familiar with the discovery, scientific, and technological processes that turn a Nature-inspired idea into an invention, whether it is an intellectual concept, a process, a material, or a device.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Non-lab Science
  • BSAD: Elective Credit Only
  • CALS: Natural Science
  • CEMS: No HSS credit
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS: Elective
  • RSENR: Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 N
Germany Since 1945: The Legacy of Nazism, the Cold War and Unification
Professor Susanna Schrafstetter - Department of History

PDF icon F15_HCOL185N_Schrafstetter_Syllabus.pdf

MW 3:30-4:45
U Hgts North 016

This seminar is situated at the nexus of history, German and European Studies, and international relations. It will explore a range of social, political, and cultural developments in the two German states that emerged from the rubble of the Second World War. Major themes will include how the German states coped with the legacies of the past and the political realities of the present. The division of Germany embodied the division of the world into two hostile blocs during the Cold War. Having unleashed a brutal war of conquest, and having perpetrated murder on a massive scale, Germany stood morally bankrupt in 1945. We will analyze how the legacy of the Holocaust affected German politics East and West, influenced the relations of the two German states with the other countries, shaped both German societies internally, and impacted on German reunification in 1990. Ever since German unity, the Germans also have to come to terms with the history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), leading to a situation termed doppelte Vergangenheitsbew ltigung - coping with the legacies and memories of two German dictatorships.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: Humanities
  • BSAD: History Core or Global & Regional Studies Core
  • CALS: Social Sciences
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS:
  • RSENR:Consult your Advisor

 

HCOL 185 O
Controversies in Modern Genomics
Professor Tamara Williams - College of Medicine

PDF icon F15_HCOL185O_Williams_Syllabus.pdf

MW 3:30-4:45
HSRF 300

Following completion of the Human Genome Project, Genomics has proven a rich source of controversy. As the applications and implications of rapid, inexpensive, and reliable whole-genome sequencing become clearer, complex ethical, moral, and practical questions emerge. Misuse and misunderstanding of the science behind Genomics has clouded conversations in the public forum and polarized topics that warrant many shades of gray.

This course will focus on thoughtful, engaging, and open-minded discussions of current controversies involving Genomics (the study of the structure, function, and evolution of an organism's entire genome) and Genetics (the study of specific gene function and inheritance) with the goal of distilling out legitimate issues from misinformation. Students are expected to actively participate and prepare for each class through critical review of assigned scientific literature, documentaries, news articles, and other media. There is no pre-requisite knowledge of Genetics or Genomics. Discussion topics will include Genetically Modified Food, Genomic Rights as Part of Human Rights, The Politics and Public Policy of Science, Human Evolution and the Pursuit of Human-ness Genes, Genetic Influence of Behavior, Pharmacogenomics and the Healthcare Industry, Direct-to-consumer Genomics, and Designer Babies and Cloning. Evaluation will include preparing for and actively engaging in class discussions and projects, composing thoughtful reflection papers, and crafting a well-sourced final research paper and presenting it to the class for discussion.

This class fills the following distribution/college requirements: (If you don't see your college, please contact your advisor.)

  • CAS: CAS credit only
  • BSAD: Elective credit only
  • CALS: Humanities, Social Science
  • CEMS: Satisfies humanities/social science (HSS) requirements
  • CESS: Consult your advisor / program coordinator
  • CNHS: Science/Elective
  • RSENR:Consult your Advisor